As more devices utilize touch screen technology that does not provide physical buttons to a user, tactile interface layers that include deformable regions that function to provide tactile guidance and/or feedback to a user for a device become useful in bridging the need for the flexibility of a touch screen and the desire for tactile guidance in using the device. Such tactile interface layers (for example, the type described in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/969,848, 12/319,334, and 12/497,622) introduce a substantially different type of user experience from what is available in the field. Actuation of such tactile interface layers is substantially different from existing keypads seen in the field. This invention provides a new and useful method for interpreting gestures as commands for a tactile interface layer with a deformable region.